I. Field of the Invention
This invention is directed to field of wireless communications. More specifically, this invention is directed to radio frequency repeaters with automated frequency (block, band and/or communication channel) selection.
II. Description of Related Art
Wireless communication is an ever growing industry. Wireless communication devices are applied in numerous applications, such as cellular communications, wireless (computer) networking, data delivery, and any number of other uses. For applications that employ bi-directional communication, such as cellular communications and wireless networking, signals are sent and received from at least two points. In the context of cellular communications, signals are normally communicated between a base transceiver station (e.g., a radio tower) and one or more mobile devices (e.g., cellular phones, wireless personal digital assistants, etc.).
However, various factors may contribute to the attenuation of such signals and, depending on the proximity of the mobile device to the base transceiver station (BTS), signal quality may be inadequate for reliable communications. In this regard, numerous factors may contribute to the attenuation of these signals, such as buildings, trees, hills, other radio frequency signals, etc.
One solution that has been employed to compensate for this attenuation of radio frequency (wireless) signal quality for signals communicated between mobile devices and BTSs, is the use of wireless signal repeaters (which may also be termed radio frequency repeaters or consumer electronics repeaters). Such repeaters receive signals from a BTS and then amplify those signals and retransmit them to the mobile device. Likewise, such repeaters receive signals from mobile devices, amplify those signals and retransmit them to the BTS. Such devices, as currently implemented, have certain drawbacks, however.
For example, some repeaters simply amplify and retransmit all signals that they receive across a wide range of frequencies, such as the entire spectrum of cellular communication frequencies. Because only certain bandwidths are typically used for cellular communications in a given area (not the entire available spectrum), such an approach may result in unwanted signals and/or noise being repeated. This may result in interference with the desired signals, consume more power than is desirable, and result in lower signal quality than is possible for the signals of interest.
Other repeaters require that a user manually configure the repeater for use, which may require interfacing a computer with the repeater or repeatedly pressing a button to shift through frequencies. Such devices may be complicated to set up, difficult to maintain and require technical knowledge not common to most consumers.
Still other repeaters reduce the frequency bandwidth that is amplified by mixing received signals with differential mixers prior to amplifying the signals. Such an approach may result in noise being introduced into the repeated signals due to the mixing and un-mixing employed by such approaches. Based on the foregoing, alternative approaches for receiving, amplifying and transmitting wireless (radio frequency signals) are desirable.